Facing eviction - Dog crate training issues?

Ian

We recently took in a one year old lab who's previous owner abandoned him and left town. A neighbor called us and we decided to adopt him.

After we got him back up to a healthy weight and he started getting sociable (about three months) he started crying / whining whenever we leave the house, to the point where we can be several houses away and still hear him and people have started complaining. He's also started destroying things in our house and scratching the paint off the front door of the house when we're gone.

Faced with eviction due to complaints and damage to our rental property, we purchased a crate. Since we didn't do much research first and we're on our last warning with the landlords about the damage to the walls and door, we forced him into it the first couple of days when we had to leave the house. That didn't help the crying, but it did solve the damage issue.

Since then we've found out that's not the correct way to do things (we're first time dog owners), we're trying to do things properly. We've got the cage open with his favorite toys and his food and water in the back of it, and he hasn't eaten or drank anything all day because he won't go near it. Yesterday my wife gave up and moved his food and water outside the crate, but we've been advised that he'll go in it when he gets hungry enough and to stick to our guns.


This has got us both feeling terrible, but everyone we've talked to swears dogs won't starve themselves and to keep with it or he'll learn he can go hungry long enough and we'll back down.


How do we undo the damage here? If we don't get this resolved and get him to quit crying, which was the purpose of the crate originally, trying to give him his own place where he feels safe to lower his anxiety, we're homeless on 02/28. Either that, or we have to give up the dog to the pound as nobody else will take him, and I'm fairly confident as overpopulated as the animal shelters in Phoenix are that he'll be put down.
There are two specific questions here:

How do we get him to like the crate? He won't go in it, or near it. Its in the middle of the house and he gives it a wide berth, to the point of not eating to avoid it. I think he's angry at us, because he's become more destructive since we've started this.

How do we stop the crying? Protecting the house and getting kicked out anyways isn't going to help much.

Answer
Well you sure have a dilemma here. And up front, as a tenant myself, with dogs, I absolutely urge you not to allow this dog to cause any more damage to the property as it's hard enough to find rental properties which will accept dogs as it is!! It's easy to say should have thought about this before taking him on, but it's relevant. I do commend you for rescuing this poor lad however, so hopefully this can yet be sorted out. Fact is a lonely and bored Lab, especially, will be destructive like this, and given his size, if he shouts, he will upset the neighbours. It does need for somebody to be home most of the time to get the crate problem sorted out - although again, no adult dog should ever be in a crate for longer than 4 hours without the opportunity to empty.

Can you get him into a day-creche when you are not home? Or get somebody to come in with him - much as all the time is unlikely!

All I can say is you have some very serious decisions to make and unfortunately if push comes to shove, you surely have to keep a roof over your heads don't you? If you move with the dog, you'll need a good reference if you stand any chance of finding another dog-friendly rental property, which it sounds as if will be unlikely as your dog has already done damage, and attracted complaints.

Why not contact Labrador Rescue and see if they'll take him in, and find him a suitable new home? Are you sure your local Shelter WILL put him to sleep - I'm afraid I see this as your only option.

Flying with dog?

darlyngirl

How traumatic would it be for my dog to fly from Chicago to Detroit (1hour 15 minutes flight) this friday? It would be at 9:50 at night so not over 85 degrees. The only airline offering a late enough flight is American (though I hear Continental is great with dogs). Will it be worse for him because the plane is only at constant level for about 15 minutes and is ascending and descending the rest of the time?

I don't have a car.
Train won't take dogs.
Bus won't take dogs.
Rental cars won't let us return it in Michigan.
Oh yeah and he's 15 inches tall not including his head so WAY too big to be allowed in the cabin (crates can be no bigger than 8 inches tall)
I may be MOVING back to Canada on Friday (with any luck). My dad would drive down in a week or so to get all my stuff. I don't want to leave him in IL not knowing when I'd be able to get him back.
my town only has enterprise. I also called rent-a-wreck (can't go out of state), and budget- everyone said no.
I just called Hertz and they have NO additional drop fee and I can even drop it off across the border in Canada which saves my parents waiting to cross the bridge and driving all the way to the airport in Detroit.

Answer
It wouldn't be traumatic as long as the dog feels comfortable in it's crate, or carrier if it's a small enough dog to fit under the seat in front of you.

If you are worried, you can get a mild sedative from your vet to calm the dog down.

Hertz allows one-way-rentals, but you have to pay a small drop-off fee.

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